Grouping of four items relating to the Transit 1-B, the second launched satellite from the US Navy-helmed Transit system, which was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The lot includes:
A partly-printed certificate from Johns Hopkins University headed “Sic Transit Orbitem,” 10.25 x 8.75, presented to “J. W. Hamblen, In commemoration of placing in orbit on April 13, 1960, Transit 1-B, The World’s First Navigational Satellite, conceived and developed at The Johns Hopkins University of Applied Physics Laboratory under the sponsorship of The Advanced Research Project Agency of the Department of Defense and The United States Navy Bureau of Naval Weapons.” The sheet is affixed to a slightly larger mount.
A piece of hardware, 2.75 x 4.5 x 2, bearing two affixed Bendix-Pacific labels, with one marked, “Serial No. 032313, Model No. TXV-17, Assembly No. 1026851-3A,” and the other reading: “Assem. No. 10872391, Model No. TNL-17, Serial No. 02961, Date 2-12-60.” The hardware is mounted to a 4.25 x 7.25 plaque with engraved plate presented to “John Hamblen, for participation in the first field test of a Notch Excited Fin Telemetering Antenna, LTV-N-4A3 (Pre Talos) Missile, Inyokern, California, Friday, 16 September 1948.”
A gorgeous mixed media painting of a Transit satellite, 33.25 x 23.75, depicting the spherical spacecraft floating against a star-filled backdrop, with the unknown artist signing in the lower right in blue paint. Framed without glass to a slightly larger size.
A large Amperex vacuum tube, 5 x 8.5, with glass marked “JAN-CEP 833A, Amperex, Made in U.S.A., 7-53,” with US Naval logo and interior part numbered: “6-18476.”
In overall fine to very good condition, with expected wear, and some bowing to painting board.
Consignor notes that the lot was obtained from an estate sale at the house of John Hamblen, a member of the scientific staff of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University who was credited with the overall electronic design of the Transit 1-B satellite. After the Transit 1-A failed to reach orbit, the 1-B successfully launched in the nose of a Thor-Able-Star Air Force missile from Cape Canaveral on April 13, 1960. In addition to demonstrating the first engine restart in space and the feasibility of using satellites as navigational aids, the 1-B was the first satellite in the Navy program to provide an all weather navigation system through signals received from satellites circling the Earth.
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